A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

PENNSYLVANIA

BEGINNING WITH BOOKS
America Reads Contact: Elizabeth Segel, Ph.D., Executive Director
7101 Hamilton Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA, 15208-1828
E-mail: segele@clpgh.org Internet Address: http://www.beginningwithbooks.org/
Telephone: 412 731-1717 Fax: 412 731-5161

Participation: Beginning with Books is an early intervention literacy program whose mission is to increase meaningfully the number of children who become capable and enthusiastic lifelong readers. Founded in 1984, Beginning with Books has developed four innovative programs and many workshops to meet the needs of low-income families, as well as caregivers, volunteers, and teachers. Research has shown the effectiveness of its programs in promoting home literacy activities, library use, and children's literacy development, as perceived by parents, teachers, and volunteers. All its programs operate in partnership with organizations serving low-income families. It is an affiliate of The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Beginning with Books focuses its direct service on the western Pennsylvania region but provides literacy materials, trainings, and technical assistance throughout the country. Since 1987 we have recruited and trained community volunteers to read one-on-one to children in public libraries. Sessions take place once or twice a week for 60-90 minutes. The children range in age from 3 to 12 and in most cases have parents or grandparents who are in literacy or job training programs. The volunteers do not teach the children to read but by reading to them from engaging books advance the children's language development, reading motivation, and reading skill. Of course, the benefits go beyond this for both volunteer and child, as each pair builds trust; children enjoy having the adult's undivided attention. The children receive 3 free books a year and are encouraged to borrow library books. A parent council helps guide the program, and regular workshop are held for parents. Training we have developed for our volunteers include strategies for working supportively with parents and children, training in identifying and reading books that will appeal to the child, and a basic understanding of child development and stages of reading development. More than 6,000 Read Together sessions took place in 16 libraries last year. We believe that our experience as trainers and managers of volunteers can be useful to coordinators and tutor-trainers of AmericaReads programs.

Tutoring: Population served: children 3-12 and their parents, who are low-income, with limited literacy but eager to support their children's learning. 2/3 are African American, 5% ESL. Volunteers range from high school students to retirees. 16 sites, public libraries. We are available to provide volunteer training or train-the-trainer workshops. Parents are involved through popular workshops and a parent council.

Resources: We have materials available: a pamphlet of tips for parents, written at a 3rd grade level, English and Spanish; a list of easy-to-read books. Available from Beginning with Books at the address listed above. We offer trainings in Pittsburgh or elsewhere.

Research: We ask volunteers to complete a session record for each time they meet with the child. These are evaluated for indications of progress or problems. An outside researcher evaluated the program in 1996, interviewing parents and volunteers, analysing session records, etc.

Relations: We have published articles on the Read Together program and our other programs bibliography available from Beginning with Books]. We work closely with adult literacy programs, mutually referring families that can benefit from our complementary services.

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